In the September 1994 issue of Weekly Famitsu, Shigesato Itoi stated that the rolling health meter in battle was originally going to be made of Pachinko beads. The idea came to him when a Pachinko parlor opened right by their office. He thought that the idea would be scary to see a stream of beads rattling out from Ness and his friends. However, it was difficult for them to portray it on screen, as when the amount increased, it covered up 1/3 of the screen.